The University Record, August 13, 1996
13 faculty members granted emeritus status
Thirteen faculty members were given the emeritus title by the Regents at their July meeting.
Those retiring are Kenneth W. Baird, professor of art; Eli V. Berger, assistant professor of dentistry; Theodore G. Birdsall, professor of electrical engineering and computer science; Mignonette Y. Cheng, professor of art; Theodore M. Cole, professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation; John F. Corcoran Jr., professor of dentistry;
David K. Felbeck, professor of mechanical engineering; Peter R. Klaver, associate professor of technical communication; Myra G. Larson, professor of art; Leo F. McNamara, professor of English; Alfredo Montalvo, associate professor of art; Charles D. Moody, professor of education; and Bernard Naylor, professor of pathology.
Kenneth W. Baird
Baird, who joined the faculty in 1982, “taught photography, history of photography and criticism, aerial photography, and lens-derived digital imaging,” the Regents said. “His photographic research has earned him many prestigious commissions and awards on both sides of the Atlantic, including the Cross Channels Photographic Mission, 1989_94, and Multilevel Photography of the Pacific Ocean, Hawaii and the Marshall Islands, for which he was awarded a Rackham Research Grant in 1986. In 1983, he was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship for photography, the first fellowship awarded to a British photographer.”
Eli V. Berger
Berger, who joined the U-M in 1961, “was the recipient of the Milo Hellman Award, given by the American Association of Orthodontists for the best piece of research presented to the association, in 1962,” the Regents noted. “He has held membership and offices in a number of professional societies, including the Michigan and American Associations of Orthodontists, the Great Lakes Association of Orthodontists, the Michigan and American Dental Associations, the Oakland County Dental Society, and the Tweed Foundation. He has also served as president and secretary-treasurer of the U-M Orthodontic Alumni Association.”
Theodore G. Birdsall
Prof. Birdsall, by the time he joined the faculty in 1954, “had established an international reputation in the field of signal detectability theory. His work proved to have applicability in several fields, including sensory psychology, psychometrics, and underwater acoustics. In recent years,” the Regents said, “Prof. Birdsall has become involved with an international consortium working on global warming initiatives. His work with this consortium on the use of underwater acoustics as a means of estimating changes in the average temperature of the oceans has received national attention.”
Mignonette Y. Cheng
Cheng joined the faculty in 1963. “A superior teacher with exceptional dedication to her students, Prof. Cheng received the University’s Teaching Excellence Award in 1990,” the Regents noted. “Over the course of her career, Prof. Cheng also taught at the U-M/University of Wisconsin International Studies Program in Florence, Italy. She was appointed director of this program in 1994. She has also long been recognized with extensive regional, national, and international awards, exhibitions, and solo shows. Currently, she is exhibiting a major show, “Themes and Variations,” at the School of Art and Design, comprised of a group of watercolors from her new book, Mignonette Yin Cheng: Watercolors of Italy.”
Theodore M. Cole
Cole came to the U-M as professor and chair of the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation in 1977. “He contributed strength, vitality, and enthusiastic leadership to the Department, building it from four part-time faculty members to its current vibrant number of 23. Dr. Cole has attained a national and international reputation in medical rehabilitation. He has been elected or appointed to officer and board positions in all of the field’s national organizations and was recently named to the Council of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health.”
John F. Corcoran
Corcoran joined the faculty in 1967. “In 1979, Dr. Corcoran was appointed acting chair of the Department of Endodontics. He was named chair of the department in 1980 and served in that capacity until 1987, when the department was combined with occlusion, operative dentistry and practice management to form the Department of Cariology and General Dentistry. Known for his dedication to teaching, Dr. Corcoran has chaired the master’s thesis research for over 35 students. He has also developed videotapes and teaching manuals to complement the School of Dentistry’s curriculum in endodontics. He has been a lecturer at major meetings and study clubs, both nationally and internationally.”
David K. Felbeck
Prof. Felbeck, who joined the faculty in 1961, “has published extensively in the area of metallurgical failure analysis, with an emphasis on accident causation and prevention. His areas of expertise include acoustic emission in aluminum alloys, strain aging in steel, brittle fracture of steel, the development of high-toughness graphite/epoxy composites, and the effects of extended space exposure on these composites. He received the Pi Tau Sigma Outstanding Faculty Award and co-authored the widely used textbook Strength and Fracture of Engineering Solids, now in its second edition.”
Peter R. Klaver
Klaver joined the faculty in 1954. “Since Prof. Klaver’s intellectual interests were centered on the uses and misuses of language, both in everyday and specialized communication, his research and teaching were necessarily interdisciplinary,” the Regents said. “The courses he taught ranged from freshman composition to technical communication to technical editing and from major American writers to junior/senior seminars in comedy and modern rhetoric. His research interests ranged from the interrelationships between reasoning, language and the comic to the uses of simulation gaming as a way to introduce students to the complexity of organizational communication.”
Myra G. Larson
Larson joined the faculty in 1967. “In addition to art education, Prof. Larson taught `Art and Community Development,’ an interdisciplinary exploration and analysis of the aesthetic, social and economic aspects of environmental design in community development, whose enrollment included art, engineering and law students. A longtime proponent of public art, Prof. Larson was also a pioneer in collaborative endeavors. In 1978, she organized one of the first invitational research conferences held at the University involving art and business. A dedicated teacher, Prof. Larson had a rapport with students that yielded very successful results.”
Leo F. McNamara
McNamara joined the faculty in 1959. “As a generalist, Prof. McNamara taught nearly all the undergraduate courses that the English department offered. He was the department’s specialist for Irish literature, having introduced this corpus into the English department’s diversified curriculum. He also regularly taught courses on the history of Ireland for the Department of History. He was a remarkable teacher and a longtime honors tutor, adviser, and counselor for the department and college; he was also the recipient of a U-M Distinguished Teaching Award. One of his most compelling talents as a teacher was his ability to translate this love of literature into active and public presentation on the stage.”
Alfredo Montalvo
Montalvo, who joined the faculty in 1973, “has been a very successful teacher. As co-chair of the industrial design program, he directed several funded undergraduate research projects in which students received national recognition. He received a Rackham Research Grant in 1980 for the investigation of `Non-Photographic Film Animation Techniques.’ His cinematic work has been widely exhibited nationally. Prof. Montalvo has served on numerous school and University committees and is also active in the undergraduate mentoring program, and he frequently served as a University marshal at commencement exercises.”
Charles D. Moody
Moody, who joined the U-M in 1970 as director of the federally-funded Program for Educational Opportunity (PEO), served as vice provost for minority affairs in 1987_93 and was named executive director of South African Initiatives in 1993. ” As director of the PEO, he worked hard, both within and outside the state, to provide assistance to local school district personnel and professional colleagues. Over the years, Prof. Moody has also directed and participated in numerous major workshops and conferences to promote equity in education. His work on issues of high national priority—school desegregation and multicultural education—is highly acclaimed.”
Bernard Naylor
Naylor, who joined the faculty in 1957, “was the Department of Pathology’s specialist in the field of cytopathology. Widely recognized as an outstanding teacher, Dr. Naylor received the Elizabeth Crosby Award for outstanding teaching of medical students in a basic medical science in 1981 and commendations for excellence in teaching from the Medical School classes of 1988, 1989, and 1990. He received a Certification of Merit from the International Academy of Cytology in 1973 and a Certificate of Merit from the American Society of Cytology in recognition of outstanding services as president of the society in November 1985. He also received the 1990 Papanicolaou Award from the American Society of Cytology.”
